You might have heard of the Nintendo PlayStation. Images of the device spread across the internet during 2015 when a mysterious prototype was discovered.
Though several units have been in the hands of hardware enthusiasts for a couple years now, never before has it been seen playing a video game. That is, until now.
The YouTube channel The Ben Heck Show got its hands on a Nintendo PlayStation prototype more than a year ago. Using their engineering skills, they managed to restore it to working condition. Better yet, they managed to emulate a game running on its hardware.
The fix was an involved process. Mapping of internal components and how they interact with one another was the first time consuming task, though it resulted in a better understanding of how the console was originally designed. After checking signals and replacing a few "questionable" capacitors, the device turned on for its first time in more than a decade.
A video of the repair process and results can be seen above.
The Nintendo PlayStation, or as it was formally called the Super NES CD-ROM System, was an unreleased device that supported both cartridges and compact discs. It was the product of a working relationship between Nintendo and PlayStation during the late 1980's that would eventually falter, leading to heated competition only a few years later when the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 hit the market.
The PlayStation would go on to outsell the Nintendo 64 by more than three-fold, a result partially owed to Sony's investment in compact disc technology.
